Scarling,'Sweet Heart Dealer'.

    Scarling, fronted by Jessikah(of Jack Off Jill) are a noise pop band from LA with two albums under their belts. Interested by their style and their listed genres - noise, shoegazing, psychedelic rock, and gothic rock, I decided to go ahead and download their first album, 'Sweet Heart Dealer' as an introduction to their work.
I'm delighted to say that Scarling not only excel where Jack Off Jill fell short but manage to successfully create a unique sound of their own - a rarity in modern day music.

   Having listened to the album in it's entirety about four times, I can really say that it's terrible album cover does absolutely no justice to it's content. It's composed of seven songs and is about a half an hour in length.  All seven songs are dark, melancholy and morbid, exploring themes like superficiality, drug abuse and unrequited love. 

      The strongest tracks on the album were 'The Last Day I Was Happy', 'Crispin Glover' and 'Alexander the Burn Victim':

'The Last Day I Was Happy' - This song starts with very soft vocals almost drowned out by the grungey guitar riff and the the light but still evident percussion, then the second guitar strategically starts strumming violently during the pre-chorus. Then the chorus erupts loudly with angry fast-paced drumming. I like the contast between Jessikah's delicate voice, the beating drums and the effects pedals. Lyrically, I'm under the impression this song is about a boyfriend or lover that isn't as interested in her as he's lead on. The frustration of the situation is evident as she gradually transitions from singing to shouting.

'Alexander the Burn Vicim' - This song's beauty is in it's hauntingly beautiful chorus and painfully sad subject matter. My lyrical interpretation may differ from others but in my opinion, it's about a previously beautiful fellow who's crippled by his injury and destined for a life of loneliness due to the fact that no girl can see past his damaged exterior. The emotional tone is reflected in the musical composition as It's one of the slower songs on the album. It's very simple. The effect pedals almost drown out the other instruments in parts and the bass adds an extra layer of emotion and sadness to this song. This is my favourite song on the album.

     There isn't much to criticise with this album apart from the last song, 'Can't(Halloween Valentine)'. It's one of those songs that you instinctively skip. With that said, it is a good conclusion to the album as it weans the listener off the music they've just listened to, leaving them with a sense of finality. Though, a song is a song in it's own right and it's important to review everything separately before putting it into the context of an album and I just don't think it's up to par with the rest of the album. It's simply uninteresting.

   All in all, their music was described best by Robert Smith who said it was "dark, desperate, chaotic, gorgeous pop music, the sound of the end of the world''  4.5/5.

Sleek Eyeshadow Palette Review.

Ever since my recent vist to London,I’ve fallen in love with Sleek makeup. Especially their Eyeshadow palettes. They make quite a few,though I only own two unfortunately. ”Storm”-A neutral palette and ”Acid”-A brightly coloured palette. The Acid palettes gaudiness is pretty terrifying but Great for occasions. Like Halloween or a night out. I’ve only used the Acid palette a few times but considering the Storm palette is a lot more wearable,I use it almost daily. Here are the Storm and Acid Palettes:

The packaging is hard plastic and very sturdy which initially impressed me as I expected something far flimsier for the price. They come with a double-ended sponge applicator and a decent sized mirror. The palettes contains 12 shadows,varying in finish from matte to shimmer. Each shadow is the size of a 5 cent coin(EU) so very similar in size to that of the shadows in the large coastel scents palettes. Each palette cost £5.99.

The Pros:
- Extremely smooth and creamy
- Blendable.
- Excellent value for money.
- Quite pigmented.
- Great for travelling.

The Cons:
- There is a lot of fall out.
- The Shadows fade throughout the day.

As you can see,the Pros clearly outweigh the cons and the cons,in my opinion,aren’t terribly bad.

MAC VS. SLEEK EYESHADOW:

In this picture,I swatched shadows from the Acid palette beside Similar(but not the same) MAC eyeshdows. Bearing in mind that a palette of twelve shadows cost me in or around seven euro and a single MAC shadow costs fifteen euro. That’s a difference of eight euro. This difference,honestly,can’t be accounted for as the quality of both MAC and Sleek shadows are very comparable. If you’re on a students budget,like myself,you should consider saving your money by buying sleek.

The Blacks:
Sleek - Matte black from Acid palette.
MAC - ”Black Tied”,Velvet.
The Greens:
Sleek - Olive green from Acid palette.
MAC - ”Humid”,Frost.
The Whites:
Sleek - Matte white from Acid palette.
MAC - ”Crystal avalanche”,veluxe pearl.

In short,if you have excess to Sleek makeup,pick one up! They sell them in Superdrug in the uk and If you're not lucky enough to live in close proximity to one,you can order online from their website.
In conclusion,the palettes are really amazing and definitely worth the price. 4/5 for sure.